Choosing the Heart of the Lotus Sutra

Choosing the Heart of the Lotus Sutra

Written by Nichiren, the shramana of Japan

Background

THE sutras and treatises that have been brought from the western land of India to China and Japan run to more than five thousand or even seven thousand volumes. If one tries to use one’s own judgment in deciding which of these various sutras and treatises are superior and which inferior, which profound and which shallow, which difficult and which easy, which early in date and which later, one will find that one is not up to the task. But if one tries to go by what other people say or what the various schools teach, one will be confused and led astray.

Thus, for example, the Flower Garland school says that the Flower Garland Sutra is first among all the sutras. The Dharma Characteristics school says that the Profound Secrets Sutra is first among all. The Three Treatises school says that the Wisdom Sutra is first. The True Word school says that the three sutras such as the Mahāvairochana are first. The Zen school at times says that, among the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, the Lankāvatāra Sutra is first, or the Shūramgama Sutra is first, while at other times it claims that it is a school based on “a separate transmission outside the sutras.” The Pure Land school asserts that, now that we have entered the Latter Day of the Law, the three Pure Land sutras are first because they are the teachings that accord best with the capacities of the people. The members of the Dharma Analysis Treasury, Establishment of Truth, and Precepts schools, on the other hand, insist that the four Āgama sutras, the rules of monastic discipline, and the treatises represent the words of the Buddha; they claim that the Flower Garland, Lotus, and other such sutras were not preached by the Buddha but are non-Buddhist scriptures. Thus one school says one thing and another says another.

The founders of these various schools were such men as Tu-shun, Chih-yen, Fa-tsang, and Ch’eng-kuan [of the Flower Garland school], Hsüan-tsang and Tz’u-en [of the Dharma Characteristics school], Chia-hsiang and Tao-lang1 [of the Three Treatises school], Shan-wu-wei, Chin-kang-chih, and Pu-k’ung [of the True Word school], Tao-hsüan and Chien-chen [Ganjin] [of the Precepts school], T’an-luan, Tao-ch’o, and Shan-tao [of the Pure Land school], and Bodhidharma and Hui-k’o [of the Zen school]. These Tripitaka masters and great teachers were all sages or worthy men. Their wisdom shone as brightly as the sun and moon and their virtue filled the area within the four seas. Moreover, each one cited various sutras, texts of the rules of monastic discipline, and treatises to prove his particular assertions, so that rulers and high ministers gave state support to their teachings and the ordinary people looked up to them with awe. Now in this latter age if a man who is lacking in knowledge such as I should try to decide who is right and who is wrong in the matter, no one would believe him.

On the other hand, it would surely be regrettable if one were to ascend a mountain of treasures and yet pick up only worthless stones and shards, or walk through a grove of fragrant sandalwood and gather only foul eranda. Therefore I have decided to ignore the slanders of the multitude and venture to declare what is to be accepted and what rejected. I hope that my disciples will give very careful attention to the matter.

Sometimes the teachers of a particular school will read only the old translations of the sutras and treatises and will not even look at newer translations of the sacred texts, or sometimes they go by the new translations of the sutras and treatises and discard the old translations. At other times they cling to the distortions of their school or insist upon their own interpretations, persisting in their foolish opinions and foisting them off on later ages. They mill excitedly around the stake, hoping to catch another rabbit. On the other hand, there are persons who look at a round fan and, reminded by its shape, look up at the sky expecting to see a round moon.2 One who sets aside error and accepts what is reasonable is the real wise man.

Therefore I will set aside the views of recent scholars and the erroneous opinions put forth by earlier teachers and will concentrate upon an examination of the original sutras and treatises themselves.

In all the sutras preached by the Buddha over a period of fifty or more years, the most essential passage is that about the past, present, and future in the “Teacher of the Law” chapter of the fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra that states, “Among the sutras I have preached [past], now preach [present], and will preach [future], this Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.”

The various scholars and teachers of Buddhism have almost certainly read this passage. But they confuse it with similar passages in other sutras, or they cling to the mistaken opinions of the patriarchs of their own school, or perhaps are simply afraid of the rulers and high ministers who support such mistaken opinions.

The Golden Light Sutra says, “This is the king of sutras.” The Secret Solemnity Sutra claims that it is “the greatest of all sutras.” The Six Pāramitās Sutra states, “The dhāranī division stands foremost among the five divisions of the teachings.” The Mahāvairochana Sutra exclaims, “What is the meaning of enlightenment? [It means to understand one’s own mind as it truly is.]” The Flower Garland Sutra states, “To be able to believe in this sutra is the most difficult of all.” The Wisdom Sutra says, “When one understands that all secular matters and actions represent the essential nature of things, one will not see a thing [that is outside that essential nature].” The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “Prajnā-pāramitā [the perfection of wisdom] is foremost.” And The Treatise on the Nirvana Sutra states, “Now is the truth of Nirvana.”

All these passages resemble the one from the Lotus Sutra that speaks of the past, present, and future. But such passages are declaring that a certain sutra is a “king” in comparison to the sutras of Brahmā, Shakra, or the four heavenly kings, or that it is a “king” in comparison to the Hinayana sutras, or that among sutras such as the Flower Garland or the Shrīmālā it is the most outstanding. They are in no way saying that that particular sutra is the king of kings among all the Mahayana and Hinayana, provisional and true, exoteric and esoteric sutras preached by the Buddha during his entire fifty or more years of teaching.

It is important that we should clearly understand what is being compared when we try to decide which sutras are superior and which inferior. Only when one has succeeded in overcoming a powerful enemy can we say that one has displayed real strength.

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I, Nichiren, have abandoned both the approach that expands and that which condenses and favor the essence of the matter, which means the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo that were transmitted to Bodhisattva Superior Practices.

When Chiu-fang Yin18 was appraising horses, he paid no attention to whether they were black or yellow but concentrated only on picking a thoroughbred. When Chih Tao-lin19 lectured on the sutras, he put aside questions of detail and concentrated on getting at the basic meaning. Shakyamuni Buddha has already entered the treasure tower and is seated side by side with the Buddha Many Treasures, the emanations of the Buddha have gathered from the ten directions, the Bodhisattvas of the Earth have been summoned, and the essence, the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo, has been entrusted to these bodhisattvas so that they may transmit it to the Latter Day of the Law. No one in the present age can doubt this.

Question: If this teaching is to spread throughout our present age, are there any portents that would indicate this fact?

Answer: The “Expedient Means” chapter of the Lotus Sutra states, “This reality consists of the appearance . . . and their consistency from beginning to end.” T’ien-t’ai comments on this as follows: “When a spider weaves its web, it means that some happy event is near, and if a magpie chatters, it foretells the coming of a guest. If even minor events such as these have their signs or portents, how much more likely is it that there will be signs for some major event.”20 (Only the gist of the passage is given.)

Question: If that is so, then what signs can you point to?

Answer: The great earthquake that occurred in the Shōka era [1257], the great comet that appeared in the Bun’ei era [1264], and the various kinds of strange and unusual things that have occurred in the sky and on the earth since then—these are all such signs. The seven disasters, twenty-nine disasters,21 and countless difficulties mentioned in the Benevolent Kings Sutra, and the various kinds of disasters listed in the Golden Light, Great Collection, Protection, and Medicine Master sutras have all appeared. The only disaster that has failed to occur is that in which two, three, four, or five suns appear at the same time.

But this year the people living in the province of Sado spread a report from mouth to mouth saying that on the twenty-third day of the first month, at the hour of the monkey [3:00–5:00 p.m.], two suns appeared in the west. Some even say that three suns appeared. They also say that on the fifth day of the second month, two morning stars appeared side by side in the east, with a distance of no more than three inches between them. All these extraordinary occurrences are of a kind hitherto unknown in previous ages in Japan.

The “Discourse on the Sovereigns’ Rule” chapter of the Sovereign Kings Sutra says, “Strange and unusual shooting stars will fall to earth, two suns will come out at the same time, marauders will appear from other regions, and the people of the country will meet with death and disorder.” The Shūramgama Sutra says, “Two suns will be seen, or a pair of moons.” The Medicine Master Sutra speaks of “the calamity of eclipses of the sun and moon.” The Golden Light Sutra states, “Comets will appear again and again, two suns will come forth side by side, and eclipses will occur with unaccustomed frequency.” The Great Collection Sutra says, “When the teachings of the Buddha truly become obscured and lost, . . . the sun and moon no longer shed their light.” And the Benevolent Kings Sutra speaks of a time when “the sun and moon depart from their regular courses, when the seasons come in the wrong order, when a red sun or a black sun appears, when two, three, four, or five suns appear at the same time, when the sun is eclipsed and loses its light, or when one, two, three, four, or five coronas appear around the sun.”

Such calamities affecting the sun and moon are the most evil and portentous of all those listed among the seven disasters, twenty-nine disasters, and countless difficulties described in the sutras.

Question: What is the cause that brings about these various major and minor disasters?

Answer: The Sovereign Kings Sutra says, “Because those who go against the good Law are respected and favored and those who practice the good Law are subjected to suffering and punishment.” The Lotus Sutra, Nirvana Sutra, and Golden Light Sutra all say in effect, “Because evil people are respected and favored and good people are subjected to punishment, the stars and constellations, along with the winds and rains, all fail to move in their proper seasons.” The Great Collection Sutra states, “When the teachings of the Buddha truly become obscured and lost . . . The wicked rulers and monks who perform these ten evil acts will curse and destroy my correct teaching.” The Benevolent Kings Sutra warns, “Once the sages have departed, then the seven disasters are certain to arise.” It also says, “Though it is not in accordance with the laws or regulations, they will bind the monks and treat them like condemned criminals. At that time the destruction of the Law will not be far off.” And in another place it states, “Evil monks, hoping to gain fame and profit, will in many cases appear before the ruler, the crown prince, or the other princes, and take it upon themselves to preach doctrines that lead to the violation of the Buddhist Law and the destruction of the nation. The ruler, failing to perceive the truth of the situation, will listen to and put faith in such doctrines.”

Let us use these passages as a bright mirror to hold up before the Japan of our time. If we do so, we will see all heaven and earth reflected there as plainly as one sees the two sides of a tally fitting together. You among my disciples who have eyes, look and see! You should understand that we are living in an age when evil monks in this country are appearing before the emperor, the princes, and the shogun and speaking slanders in an attempt to do away with the sage!

Question: In the past King Pushyamitra, the emperor of the Hui-ch’ang era,22 and Mononobe no Moriya appeared in India, China, and Japan respectively, all men who attempted to destroy the Buddhist Law. Other Indian kings put to death Bodhisattva Āryadeva, the Venerable Āryasimha, and other teachers. At the time these men lived, why did these various great disasters fail to appear?

Answer: Disasters and calamities may be major or minor depending upon the persons who call them forth. During the two thousand years of the Former and Middle Days of the Law, there were evil rulers and evil monks. Some were followers of the non-Buddhist doctrines of India, some were supporters of Taoist adepts, and some were believers in false deities. They seemed to be playing a large part in the destruction of the Buddhist Law, but in fact their crimes were not as serious as one might think. But the evil rulers and evil monks in the world today who seek to destroy the Buddhist Law use Hinayana doctrines to attack Mahayana ones, and employ provisional teachings to wipe out the true teaching. They rob people of their minds without actually destroying their bodies; they do not actually burn down temples and pagodas, and yet they make it so that the Buddhist Law will naturally be destroyed. Their fault greatly surpasses that of the men of former times.

Look at what is happening, my disciples, and then put your faith in the Lotus Sutra! When you stare at a mirror with angry eyes it reflects your anger. Heaven itself is angry, because people are at fault. When two suns appear side by side, it is a sign that two rulers will contend for power within a single country, king fighting against king. When the stars invade the precincts of the sun and moon, it is a sign that subjects will invade the prerogatives of the ruler. When another sun comes forth to contend with the one that is there already, it means that all the four continents of the world will fall to wrangling. When two morning stars appear side by side, it means that two heirs apparent will vie for the succession.

And when, as these signs portend, the nation has been plunged into disorder, then Bodhisattva Superior Practices and the other sages will come forward, establish the three secret Laws of the essential teaching, and spread Myoho-renge-kyo widely throughout the four continents and the region within the four seas! Could anyone doubt it?

The fifth month of the eleventh year of Bun’ei [1274]

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Background

Nichiren Daishonin completed Choosing the Heart of the Lotus Sutra on the twenty-fourth day of the fifth month in 1274, and addressed it to Toki Jōnin, one of his leading lay disciples, who lived in Shimōsa Province. It was designated by Nikkō as one of the Daishonin’s ten major writings. In it, the Daishonin for the first time reveals “the secret Laws that were left unrevealed by Nāgārjuna, Vasubandhu, T’ien-t’ai, and Dengyō,” which he later defined as the Three Great Secret Laws. These are, as he states, “the object of devotion of the essential teaching, the sanctuary of the essential teaching, and the five characters of the daimoku of the essential teaching.” They are the foundation of his teachings, the essence of the Lotus Sutra to be spread in the Latter Day of the Law. Here “the essential teaching” is that of the Latter Day and refers to the teaching of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

After his two-and-a-half years of exile in Sado, Nichiren Daishonin was pardoned and returned to Kamakura on the twenty-sixth day of the third month of 1274. On the eighth day of the fourth month, he had an interview with Hei no Saemon-no-jō Yoritsuna, who represented the regent of the Kamakura government. Asked when the forces of the Mongol Empire would attack Japan, the Daishonin replied that they would do so within the year, and warned that the rulers should cease their support of Buddhist schools that went against the Lotus Sutra. But the government did not heed his admonition. This is regarded as his third official remonstration with the ruler of the nation.

On the twelfth day of the fifth month, the Daishonin left Kamakura, and on the seventeenth day arrived at the foot of Mount Minobu in the province of Kai. Just seven days later, on the twenty-fourth day, he completed this work. In the tenth month, the Mongol Empire launched its first attack on Japan just as the Daishonin had predicted to Hei no Saemon.

Under the title, the Daishonin signs the work “Written by Nichiren, the shramana of Japan.” Shramana refers to a seeker of the Buddha way. The Daishonin uses it here to mean a genuine practitioner of Buddhism, the person who inherits the correct teaching of Buddhism and transmits its essence to the world and in the future.

This work consists of three sections. In the first section, the Daishonin examines the relative superiority of the sutras expounded by Shakyamuni from two standpoints, that of the teaching and that of the teacher. A single Buddha, Shakyamuni, can be viewed differently according to the sutras he expounded. The Shakyamuni of the “Life Span” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, who attained enlightenment in the unimaginably distant past, is the ultimate Buddha. And the Lotus Sutra is the foremost of all the sutras.

In the second section, the Daishonin explains that both the theoretical teaching and the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra were expounded for the people of the Latter Day of the Law, particularly for the Daishonin himself. And within the Lotus Sutra the so-called “one chapter and two halves,” which comprises the “Life Span” chapter and its surrounding text, constitutes the core of the essential teaching, and this too was expounded for the Daishonin and his followers. These statements explain the Daishonin’s crucial role of relieving the ills of all people in the Latter Day of the Law.

The third section clarifies the great Law to be spread in the Latter Day. The Daishonin states, “I, Nichiren, have abandoned both the approach that expands and that which condenses and favor taking the essence of the matter, which means the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo that were transmitted to Bodhisattva Superior Practices.” That essence is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo of the Three Great Secret Laws. Hence he entitled this work Choosing the Heart of the Lotus Sutra. The Daishonin then speaks of the signs appearing at the time that portend the dissemination of that Law, and states with conviction that the wide spread of the Three Great Secret Laws is inevitable.

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Notes

1. Tao-lang actually indicates Fa-lang, a priest of the Three Treatises school in China, who lived at Hsing-huang-ssu temple. In The Continued Biographies of Eminent Priests, the name of Chia-hsiang’s teacher, Fa-lang, was incorrectly written as “Tao-lang of Hsing-huang-ssu temple.” Since then, Fa-lang, also called Hsing-huang after the temple where he lived, has often been referred to as Tao-lang. The Daishonin in his On Repaying Debts of Gratitude refers to Hsing-huang (Fa-lang) and his successor, Chia-hsiang, as representatives of the Three Treatises school.

2. The story of the rabbit that ran into a stump is from Han Fei Tzu. A farmer happened to find a rabbit that had run into a tree stump and broken its neck. He stopped plowing and kept watch on the stump, hoping another rabbit would run into it. The example of the round fan and moon comes from a statement in Great Concentration and Insight: “When the moon is hidden behind the mountain range, we hold up a round fan as a symbol of it.”

19. A learned priest in China. Chih Tao-lin (314–366) gained fame for his lectures on Buddhist sutras such as the Wisdom sutras and the Vimalakīrti Sutra.

20. Profound Meaning.

21. In his Clarification of the Precepts, Dengyō subdivided the seven disasters described in the Benevolent Kings Sutra into twenty-nine types.

22. Wu-tsung, the fifteenth emperor of the T’ang dynasty (814–846). In 845, urged on by Taoists, he destroyed some 4,600 Buddhist temples and monasteries and forced more than 260,000 priests and nuns to return to secular life. This suppression is one of the four imperial persecutions of Buddhism in China.

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